The Lack of Sleep Holding You Back - Here's How To Fix It

In the fast-paced world of B2B marketing and sales, it is critical to foster a lifestyle that caters to quick decision-making, sharp reflexes, and great creativity. That said, too many ambitious salespeople think that succeeding in this world means a lifestyle of late nights and early mornings filled with pots of coffee and cans, not to mention the constant exposure to technology and different screen sizes.

Even though many salespeople seem to think that the extreme hustle-lifestyle is their fast-pass to sales success, science tells another story.

Lack of sleep is directly linked to lower productivity and costs our neighbor across the pond, The Great US of A, as much as 63.2 billion dollars a year. While there are dozens of reasons the average entrepreneur is getting less sleep, technology is by far one of the worst and most abused culprits.

Fortunately, there are three easy ways to cut the distractions of technology from a busy life without cutting profits or neglecting customers.

1. Reduce the constant notifications!

When dealing with dozens of customers, hundreds of emails, and texts buzzing constantly, it is easy for a work day to sound like a jumble of rings and dings from multiple devices. While many well-meaning psychologists and analysts insist this is detrimental to our ability to invest in deep thought and productivity, it is an unfortunate necessity in the B2B workplace. I get that!

However, steps can be taken to reduce it as much as possible. For example, automatic Facebook notifications can be a large unnecessary contributor to the number of updates received during the day.

If there is a pressing task or project that needs to be completed, the distractions of work-related notifications are often pointless. If you choose to give them as little as a glance, notifications will put you back about 25 minutes every time... See, 25 minutes is the duration YOU need to refocus on the task at hand.

2. No screens in the bedroom!

Although it is difficult to break away from screens and technology at home, especially since many B2B salespeople can live in a constant work mentality even when at home, there is unanimous evidence that screens before bed can significantly reduce the amount and quality of sleep a person gets.

Because many entrepreneurs are operating on tight schedules, it is of utmost importance that the time allotted for sleep is actually used to sleep!

Sitting in bed for eight hours does not have even close to the same benefits as eight hours of sleep if scrolling through social media accounted for two of those hours.

3. Use nature to your advantage!

With technology revolving around every aspect of life, it is easy to forget that the easiest and most effective way to unwind and go back to a mentally calm state is all around us. Nature is shown to relax the mind in ways science can actually quantify. Lucky for us, Finns, we have a lot of it!

The natural light, in contrast to the LEDs and screens of technology, can help to regulate the levels of melatonin in the human body, which is critical for natural sleep cycles. Fresh air, natural sounds, and the overall calming effects of natural areas also have tangible effects on hormone levels, vitamin uptake, and a generally improved mental state.

In conclusion

Be mindful of your habits and start developing your habits slowly but surely. I would like to hear some of your own experiences where you have been deprived of sleep versus having plenty of it. In which state we're you functioning more productively? Share your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter.